The Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) at Rutgers University--Newark is an initiative that is expanding traditional notions of honors and transforming the Rutgers--Newark community. The HLLC promotes academic excellence, community engagement, and social equity. It seeks to eradicate structural barriers while critiquing deficit-based ideologies that fail to recognize the talent, academic potential, and intellectual abilities of scholars from under-resourced communities. The HLLC expressly identifies local talent that has been overlooked for too long. One-third of HLLC scholars are transfer students from local community colleges, two-thirds are from Newark or Greater Newark, and--consistent with the city's racial demographics--approximately 80 percent of HLLC scholars identify as black or Latinx. More than 65 percent of these scholars are eligible for Pell Grants, and almost 50 percent are first-generation college students. The HLLC implemented a model for student success and community engagement that has several implications for practice--including holistic admissions, inclusive and community-engagement classrooms, and comprehensive infrastructures for mentoring and support.